


Moonlit Night

by BillCipher666, Zoe_Nightshade_Rules



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23701804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BillCipher666/pseuds/BillCipher666, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoe_Nightshade_Rules/pseuds/Zoe_Nightshade_Rules
Summary: The family of Greek darkness,Aligned with the once dead water nymphTravel through the abyssJoined by love’s son discovered in LondonDon’t forget to save the day
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

Maria was desperately trying to outshoot Thalia at the archery range, but failing miserably. They were waiting for the Jackson-Chase family to arrive, the family was coming from Sally’s apartment, which wasn’t that far away, yet they somehow ended up being over an hour late so far. Maria frowned when Thalia’s arrow hit the bullseye _again_ , she knocked her arrow and got into position. She focused on the target, pulling the string back just a bit further, took in a lungful of air, and released the arrow, breathing out as the arrow left the bow and herself in the dust. Maria watched as the arrow cut through the air, seeming to fly straight to the bullseye, until a gust of wind blew through the area, sending a chill down Maria’s spine and the arrow off course. The arrow buried itself into the wood with a quiet thunk, just outside of the bullseye. Maria cursed and turned to Thalia, who wore a triumphant grin. 

“Again,” Maria ordered, a dark look on her face, it scared most everyone in her mortal school, but it didn’t have the same effect on the hunter. 

“There there, Little di Angelo,” Thalia laughs, her bow already disappearing from her hand, and as she trudged through the snow to remove her arrows, “We can go again later, maybe you can get your dad to join us.”

“You sayin’ that I’m not good at archery?” Maria mumbled quietly in an attempt for nobody else to hear it, unfortunately not quite enough.

“No, but maybe somebody less skilled will help boost your ego,” Thalia sent a grin towards the younger girl before pulling out her last arrow and tossing it to the side with the rest of the bunch. Maria rolled her eyes and grunted as she pulled out her last arrow, placing the arrow in the quiver that was on her back, to be sharpened later. 

“So, what would you like to do, oh magical Lieutenant of Artemis?” Maria asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice, catching up to the older girl, shouldering her bow in the process. 

Thalia looked at her from the corner of her eye, shrugging unhelpfully, and they made their way to the cabin area naturally. They walk past a bunch of already sugar high campers, a group of 10-year-olds ran past, giggling and throwing snowballs at each other. The two girls passed the arena, coated in a dense layer of snow, the sound of swords clashing coming from inside. They finished their walk when they got to the Hades cabin, which was Maria and her parents’ temporary home for the holidays. 

Maria entered the cabin, dragging Thalia in with her, despite the hunters’ numerous protests, insisting that she can’t leave her favorite hunter outside in the cold. Maria instantly relaxed when the warmth from the cabin seeped into her bones, washing the cold away. Maria removed her bow and arrows, placing them on the side of her bunk, and replaced the weapons with her sword. 

“Ready?” Thalia asks, leaning lightly against the door, arms crossed, trying to look cool in her white windbreaker and jeans, it wasn’t working. 

“Yeah, you decided what to do yet, O’Great one?” Maria mocked, heading back outside.

“Not really, we could try to start a snowball war,” Thalia said, a wicked smile on her face, bumping shoulders lightly with the girl.

“It’s-” 

“THALIA!” a little girl screamed from behind them, the two girls spun, just in time for Thalia to catch the 4-year-old barreling directly into her. Annabeth followed close behind with a winter coat and a pair of gloves. Thalia let out a breath as the 4-year-old’s head hit her stomach, but picked up the little girl anyways, a big smile on her lips. 

“Perfect, now we have this little bugger to help with the war,” Thalia laughs, tickling the girl’s clothed stomach, the little girl laughed, her green eyes sparkling with mirth, her black curls bouncing slightly. 

“Sorry Thalia, she just gets so excited when she sees you, couldn’t even get her to put her coat on,” Annabeth laughed, helping the little girl put her coat and gloves on. Maria stood there, awkwardly, having not been noticed yet. 

“It’s fine, now that we have little Silena on our side, we can’t lose!” Thalia says, bouncing Silena on her hip. 

“Lose what?” Percy asked, finally catching up to his wife, Lucas followed closely behind. 

“The snowball war, of course!” Thalia grins, Lucas gave Maria a small wave, smiling awkwardly, Maria laughed and gave the boy a big hug, not accepting a short wave for a greeting. 

“Hey Percy, Annabeth!” Maria greeted them after letting go of their son, Lucas. They both respond with greetings of their own. 

“What’s this about a snowball war?” Lucas asked.

“Thalia’s decided to go to war against the rest of the camp, I guess we’ve just become soldiers for her mini army,” Maria said, a small smirk forming.

“Looks like dad’s pretty taken to the idea,” Lucas laughed, they both watched as Percy grinned and nodded quickly. The group stops abruptly, Percy and Thalia turning on the two teenagers, mischievous grins on their faces. 

“Alright here is the plan-” Thalia started.

“-We’re gonna attack the Apollo cabin first, they’re at archery now.”

“We’ll throw a bunch of snowball at them, distracting them while Annabeth rallies the Athena cabin-”

...

Maria let out a yelp as a snowball hit her in the back of the head, and some Aphrodite girl smiled at her innocently before scurrying back behind Ares lines. 

“Stupid Aphrodite children,” Maria muttered while diving behind a snow pile, which Lucas had kindly constructed for them, “We’re being destroyed, Thalia!”

“I know, just one second,” Thalia’s voice came from behind one of the other snow piles littering the ground. The girl in question popped up from a pile 20 feet over and launched a bunch of snowballs at the Ares defense. 

“You missed!” Lucas yelled, laughing as he added more snowballs to the ever-growing pile. He peeked his head over the snow pile, picked up a snowball, and rewound his arm, getting ready to throw. Then a flying chunk of snow hit his head just above his left eyebrow with enough force to have him toppling backward. He fell back into a soft pile of snow, the frozen water flying up around him and floating delicately down. The storm landed softly in his hair, a stark contrast compared to the midnight black hair he’d gotten from his father. 

“What are you talking about Jackson Jr. those all hit,” Thalia’s delayed answer finally came, followed by heavy breathing. 

“You’ve only been hitting Ares!” Lucas responded, grunting as he sat back up.

“That’s ’cause it’s only a distraction!” Malcolm yelled from behind another hill, that hill was probably big enough to hold the entire Athena cabin behind it, all planning attacks. Maria rolled her eyes, no one ever knew what they were planning until the attack had been launched. 

“Percy, Now!” Annabeth yelled. Maria had given up on trying to find everybody’s positions.

The field went silent as a bunch of snow was moved from the ground to the air, it moved towards the opposing army until it was floating just above the Ares front line, which looked about ready to pee themselves. The silence of the field was interrupted when Percy yelled, ‘let it go’ at the top of his lungs. The snow came crashing down onto the terrified Ares campers, rendering the enemy’s front line, useless. A bunch of yells came from the other side complaining about how unfair it was to have a son of Poseidon on their side. 

“On my count,” Maria whispered, looking into Lucas’s blueish-grey eyes, trying to communicate how she refused to be one-upped. 

“We have enough?” Lucas asked, gathering all of the snowballs and pulling them close to him.

“This is going to be fun,” Maria laughed before thinking about the other side of the archery range, where the other army was hiding. She grabbed a hold of Lucas as darkness enveloped them, leaving them feeling even colder than before, it only took a second before the dark leaves, and they were huddled behind enemy lines. Lucas drops all of the snowballs, they hit the ground with a series of thuds, he looks like he’s about to puke. 

“3.”

“2,” Maria gathered a few of the snowballs in her hands, Lucas following her lead. 

“1!”

They throw the snowballs at the people hiding behind their own piles of snow, earning a bunch of yells and sounds of surprise from the campers. 

“They’re behind us!” One of the snow-covered campers yelled. 

“Damn Hades, children!” Another exclaimed. 

Maria reaches down for another snowball but grabbed hold of nothing. She looks frantically at Lucas, whose eyes had grown big, aware of the onslaught of snow they’re about to experience. Maria grabbed his hand and yelled ‘run’ before they headed straight into enemy lines. They yelled nonsense loudly as they got pelted with snowballs, they got their chest covered in snow, and some even threw snow towards their feet in attempts to trip them. 

Before they made it out of their punishment, the supper horn sounds, also known as the cease-fire horn, all of the hungry campers dropped the snowballs and started heading for supper, not wanting to be late, although a few threw a couple of snowballs at the two teens just because. Lucas and Maria were laughing when they found Thalia and their parents, along with a tiny Silena looking like a snowman. Silena had snow in her hair, which was sticking up in odd angles, and was attached to Percy’s leg, giggling like a madman and telling him how awesome his attack was. 

“What happened to you guys?” Nico asked an eyebrow raised as he took in his daughter’s current state, which wasn’t much better than Silena’s. 

“We went behind the front,” Maria shrugs, “They didn’t really like it.”

“She just _had_ to one-up Percy,” Lucas jokingly mocked, he lightly punched her shoulder as Maria’s face turned red. 

. . .

Lucas and Maria sat perched on top of Hera’s cabin, it was rough and hardly comfortable, if one of them were to fall down they would likely end up with a broken bone and rug burns. The wind kept blowing their clothes and hair around, and the roof still had a bit of snow on it, resulting in their clothes getting wet. The only reason they were up there was that they were still wide awake from the partying that was finally coming to an end. That, and everybody was still obnoxiously loud, the periodic loud laugh coming from the Zeus cabin had left them wondering. Being the curious teens they were, they scampered up the side of the Hera cabin and hid just out of view, listening to their parents and friends. 

“-you’re one to talk, you guys’ first kiss was in a lake!” Thalia accused. The only reason the teens could hear the group of adults was because of how loud they were, it was a wonder that any of the kids could even get to sleep. 

“That’s not true! She kissed me on my cheek when we were 13!” Percy said indignantly, although Maria was sure that everybody in the Zeus cabin already knew that. 

“That’s not a real kiss kelp-head,” The teens could practically hear the eye-roll in Thalia’s voice. They kept talking although a bit quieter now, Leaving the teens unable to make out what the parents were talking about and if it was anything embarrassing. Maria was having trouble keeping her eyes open and was about ready to call it a night when the familiar twinkling of an iris message had her up again. Why would anyone be iris messaging their parents at 3 in the morning? She heard greetings and then something frantic on the other end, still not loud enough to be heard by the two campers. 

Maria and Lucas looked at each other, Lucas shook his head, Maria laughed silently, Lucas is too much of a goody-two-shoes to do anything too wrong. Maria, with a quick push, slid noiselessly off the roof and landed softly in the snow below them, shivering violently when the cold touched her exposed ankles. She crept over to a window that was emitting a soft glow from the lights inside the cabin. She heard Lucas fall off the roof shortly after she reached the window, she spared him the embarrassment by not looking when she listened to his ungracefully curse and not saying anything when he brushed up against her and peered into the window with her. 

“-ercy, Thalia, Nico, Will, I hope you had a good new year, I’m sorry, but I don’t bring good news,” Reyna greeted stoically, Frank was standing slightly behind her and Jason was on the other side, both wearing very sober expressions. The group had the Camp Jupiter shirts on, and Frank and Reyna had chitons over their clothes. 

Maria frowned, nobody should be this serious on new years, there was a tension that hung in the air, everybody was sitting up straighter, and their smiles were nearly gone. 

Lucas, sensing this urgently whispered to her, “I think we should leave, this seems a bit beyond us.” Maria shushed him, then focused her attention on the scene in front of her. 

“What’s wrong?” Annabeth sighed, leaning more heavily into Percy, seeming to have aged years in a matter of seconds. Maria could see the child of Athena slump slightly as if she was carrying the world on her shoulders again. 

“We have two girls who cursed at us in greek, said something about Zeus, I believe they belong to you,” Reyna announced, Jason and Frank fidgeted in the back, looking off to the side at somebody who they couldn’t see, they seemed to be unsure of why they were there. 

“Do you know their names?” Thalia asked, sitting up straighter at the sight of the Praetor, recognizing and showing her respect to the leader of the other camp. 

“One refused to talk, and the other followed her lead.” 

“Can you describe them to us?” Percy questioned, rubbing his hand on his wife’s, back soothingly. 

“They were both wearing silver shirts, camo pants, and a tan winter jacket tied around their waist. One was slightly taller about 5’8 and the other a few inches shorter with dark-” The message started to cut out, silence took over the room as they waited for Reyna to finish the description. 

“Reyna you’re cutting out,” Annabeth said, her brow scrunching at the flickering image. 

“-ease come to Camp Jupiter,” and with that, the massage faded away. Maria and Lucas exchanged a panicked but also slightly curious look, Maria’s eye sparkled with mischievousness, while Lucas’s eyes held fear and nervousness.

“Whatever your thinking-” Lucas whispered, already turning to leave, his hand on Maria’s arm. His voice was drowned out when the silent cabin turned into one of arguing

“We should go _now_ ,” Thalia said after the minute of silence, already having gone through the pros and cons of going now versus going later, obviously going now won that internal debate. 

“Think about this Thalia, it’s late, we’re tired, we should wait until the morning to make any rash decisions,” Annabeth quickly interrupted, stopping that thought before it could become action. 

“If it wasn’t important, Reyna would’ve waited to call us, I think we should go now,” Percy argued, wincing as Annabeth glared at him for not being on her side, Lucas shifted next to Maria, uncomfortable with the situation. 

“If she needed us there, she would have said it!” Annabeth protested, scowling and moving away from Percy slightly. Over the years, they’d grown to trust each other, but when they disagreed on something, it always hurt a bit on both sides, even more so on something that seemed so important. Maria, along with a lot of the people closest to the Jackson-Chase’s had witnessed the small fights that happened during the disagreements, they weren’t always pretty and resulted in the two adults sulking for a while. 

“She did, she said ‘please come to Camp Jupiter-” Percy recounted, even taking up an impression of Reyna.

“She didn’t clarify when! She would have meant in the morning or tomorrow!”

“That’s because the Iris-Message cut out, which should already raise some red flags, I’m sure Reyna would rather we come early rather than late.”

“More of a reason to wait, maybe she’ll call us again? Or can we call her?” Annabeth protested, looking at Will and Nico for help, Maria’s parents just shrugged. Nico shoved his hand in his pocket, pulling a drachma out of his back pocket, he tossed it to Annabeth

“You owe me a drachma.”

Maria rolled her eyes, they had plenty, a bucket full in their apartment and in the Hades cabin, it turned out that Nico was a bit of a helicopter parent at times. The group fell into a silence as Percy created some Mist, and Annabeth tossed the coin though, the coin disappeared through the mist, and Annabeth cleared her throat, “Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering.”

The image shimmered, a couple of colors cross the mist before it turns translucent, showing Nico and Will on the other side. Everyone in the cabin let out a string of curses, some more moderate than others. Thalia’s was the loudest and most vulgar, if Maria were to repeat any of the words Thalia had uttered, she would probably be grounded for life. 

“Well, now we have to go!” Thalia exclaims, “Iris-Messaging isn’t working, at least between the two camps, last time that happened there was a war between gods!”

“What about our kids?” Will finally said, and it was the thing that Maria had been waiting for; it was the reason that they would stay the night. Maria could almost see the impact of her fathers’ words sink into the parent’s minds. The decision was already made, they would wait for the morning. Thalia knew it, Maria could see it on her face, Thalia frowned, not wanting to wait. 

“Fine, you guys can stay, I’m leaving,” Thalia said, getting up from her spot on the bunk, already throwing her stuff in her bag before somebody was finally roused from their shock.

“Thalia, come on, just wait for a bit, you can’t run across the country overnight,” Annabeth reasoned.

“Yeah, I’ll shadow travel us all there in the morning, it’ll be less exhausting than running all night, we’d probably even beat you,” Nico added, even thinking about running that far exhausted him. Will glared at his husband, causing Maria to stifle a laugh, Lucas shoved her lightly, mockingly pressing his finger to his lips.

“Yeah right, I’m going, I can’t wait that long, I’ll never get to sleep,” Thalia muttered sarcastically, slipping a silver Camp Half-Blood sweatshirt over her tank-top. 

More people looked ready to protest, but glares from both Percy and Thalia shut them up.

“Try calling Artemis to tell her what you’re up to and don’t get run yourself to the brink of exhaustion,” Percy reminded, just glad somebody was going. 

Thalia sends him a smile, “Of course Kelp Head, don’t want to anger the gods.” 

Lucas and Maria ducked quickly when Thalia turned, eyes skimming over the window where the two twins were watching, swearing she’d seen something. Maria and Lucas hid while their parents bid each other goodbye. The two teens breath mingled, heads pushed together and observing each other. 

The door to the cabin slammed open, and a couple of people marched out, shoes crunched against the snow, and multiple yawns came from the group, telling Maria both the Di Angelos and Jackson-Chase’s had left the cabin, which confirmed when the Poseidon cabins door opened and closed while Will and Nico continued to their temporary home. Maria slowly stood back up, peering back into the window and finding that Thalia had switched her pants from sweats to jeans, but hadn’t finished the swap. Maria blushed and averted her gaze, waiting for her friend to finish, pushing Lucas’ head down to maintain some of Thalia’s privacy, Lucas gave a surprised grunt but stayed down anyway.

Maria snuck a cautious gaze towards the cabin again, glad to find Thalia slipping on her windbreaker and lacing up her boots. The demigods watched as she finished gathering her stuff and shoved them in the backpack. The entire process was neat and very contrasting to Thalia’s personality. Thalia finally left the cabin a couple of minutes later, the lights turned off in the cabin as she left, leaving the camp dark aside from the eerie glow of the moon, it left Lucas momentarily blind, Maira had slight immunity to sudden changes in light due to a lot of shadow traveling. Maria shoved Lucas to the ground following close behind when Thalia passed their hiding spot between the two cabins, playing with a drachma as she walked. After Thalia was a bit further away, Maria stood to follow. 

“Maria, No,” Lucas said, harshly pulling the older girl down.

“Come on, aren’t you curious?” Maria whispered, trying to stand up, pulling Lucas’s arm with her. 

“No, I’m not, you’ve heard the stories our parents have told us and the camp, I don’t want to be a part of a war!”

“Please, this isn’t a war,” Maria laughed, shaking Lucas off and walking quickly, intending to follow Thalia. Maria repressed a laugh when she heard grumbles and snow crunching behind her, Lucas chasing after her. Despite Lucas not wanting to come, he would never leave his best friend alone, the two campers were thick as thieves. 

“I still don’t like this,” Lucas grumbled. 

They trailed after Thalia, at least 20 feet behind, stumbling every once and a while when they bumped into each other, the moon had disappeared behind a cloud and left the nearly blind camper struggling. They passed the restroom and showers, Maria wrinkled her nose and sent a look at Lucas, whose shoulders trembled with laughter. Thalia came to a stop in front of The Canoe Lake, which had a slight mist over top of it. Maria and Lucas hid behind a snow pile from a previous snow fight. They watched as Artemis appeared in the image, sitting in front of a campfire and talking to a couple of hunters.

“Lady Artemis, I’ll have to postpone my break for a bit longer,” Thalia said, getting right to the point, Lady Artemis’ smile faded a bit but remained.

“Of course, how long?” the auburn-haired goddess asked, taking the sudden change in plan with stride, she was probably already altering their plans slightly to accommodate for the daughter of Zeus’ absence. 

“Undetermined, My Lady.”

“Do you mind if I ask why?” It wasn’t really an option not to, more of a more polite way to ask. Maria hated when her dads told her to do something in the form of a question, she didn’t understand why they didn’t just tell her to do the chore as an order.

“Something has happened at Camp Jupiter, Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Will, and I plan on heading out to see what was up.”

“How bad is it?”

“I’m not sure, My Lady.”

“You’ll tell me if anything out of the ordinary happens?”

“Of course, My Lady,” Thalia said her goodbyes to the hunters still awake and around Artemis, bowing to the goddess before she swiped her hand through the mist, ending the call. Maria and Lucas stayed silent as Thalia stretched for a few minutes before she started sprinting towards the big house, then, out of sight. Maria waited until Thalia’s retreating figure had disappeared through the barrier before turning to Lucas. 

“We have to go!” Maria said jumping up and down like an excited puppy.

“No, we don’t.”

“Yes, we do!”

“No, you heard Thalia, it’s probably nothing.”

“Exactly.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Yes, it does, if it’s nothing, we’re just visiting Frank and Hazel, if it’s something, we can help,” Maria argued, waving her hands around like crazy, her tired state already catching up to her.

“Even if I agreed with you, which I don’t, our parents would notice that we are gone, and we don’t even have a way to get there,” Lucas countered, eyes dropping, with no more excitement, his brain finally realized how tired he was too.

“We can leave after our parents when everybody is too tired to care.”

“How are we gonna get across the country?”

“I’ll shadow travel us, obviously.”

“You want to shadow travel across the country?”

A nod.

“With me?”

Another nod.

“You can hardly travel that far by yourself, how do you plan on doing it with me!”

“We’ll make a pitstop,” Maria shrugged.

“You know what fine, I’m going to sleep, we’ll talk about this in the morning,” Lucas gave up, threw his hands up in the air, and started walking back towards his cabin, where his parents were probably wondering where he was.

“Is that a yes?” Maria called after a ridiculous smile on her face. Lucas turned around, walking backward while he flipped her off. After a minute of that, he turned around and raced back to the cabins, disappearing into his cabin.

Maria laughed, the sound echoed around her with nobody making any noise or there to even hear it. Her mind briefly thought about the harpies, wondering how they hadn’t found her yet, that was enough to make her head towards the hades cabin. She walked through the snow, the bottoms of her pajama pants soaked, mentally preparing herself for the angry parents surely waiting for her, ready to scold her.

She entered the cabin and found her Papa and Dad sitting on one of the bunks, Nico, Papa, tapping his foot impatiently and Will rubbing his back comfortingly.

“Where were you?” her papa asked, staring at her with his black eyes that made her want to tell him about her sneaking around. 

“I didn’t feel very good, something in the food must not have agreed with me,” Maria explained, changing her pants into shorts and sitting on her bed.

“You couldn’t have left a note?” Nico said, obviously not believing her but choosing to let it slide.

“I didn’t know how long you’d be gone.”

“You worried me.”

“Papa, relax, I was just using the bathroom!” Maria groaned, falling against her bed dramatically. 

Nico didn’t answer, Maria could feel his stare on her back, making her hair stay on end. 

“I know you and Lucas hang out a lot and that-”

“Papa, I don’t like him like that, Dad, tell him,” Maria cut her father off, ears burning, her voice muffled by her pillow. 

“But-”

“No, Papa, we were doing anything, just let me sleep!” Maria whined, pushing her head further into her pillow, trying to disappear. 

“Fine, but this conversation isn’t over.”

The lights turned off, and there was some shuffling as Nico and Will got ready for bed. Maria pulled her covers over her head, drowning the world out. She tried to sleep, she really tried, knowing she would only get a few hours of sleep before she had to get up again. Only, her brain wouldn’t let her, imagining different people that had shown up at the camp, monsters, demigods, anybody. When sleep finally came, she was dreaming of Persian Princess and the dead. 


	2. Chapter 2

Thalia was running as fast as she could, practically floating above the ground, her boots hardly sinking into the snow. She was going faster than humanly possible, the trees blurred slightly and she could only focus on what was in front of her. Her breaths came in shallow puffs, hardly noticeable due to carbon dioxide being long behind her the second it escaped. If she paid attention she would see the snow that she’d kicked up falling a bit slower than normal, the clouds never seemed to move and if a leaf fell, it seemed to hang in the air, almost as if time was slowing around her. Only she wouldn’t notice this, her only goal was to get to Camp Jupiter, hopefully, prevent anything bad. She was tired sure, but she’s gone days without sleep, one of many perks of being a hunter of Artemis, besides, the moon refreshed her.

The sun was peeking over the horizon, it colored the sky pinks, purples, and oranges, which Thalia caught glimpses of through the thick foliage. The trees had little to no leaves on them, turning the background into a blur of whites, browns, and greys, Thalia didn’t find the scene pleasant. She preferred the summer over winter, fall and spring were okay, but she loved the summer. Winter was wet and cold, winter was made for sleeping in and being huddled under blankets, not for running around and playing games like in Summer. Thalia found that most Hunters including Artemis herself didn’t hold the same appreciation towards the heat. Thalia had once seen it fit to question one of the girls, Phoebe, and asked why; Phoebe had alluded that a lot of the older hunters once agreed with Thalia, but there had been a debate between the hunters, and winter came out on top. When Thalia asked who had convinced everybody that winter was the superior season, Phoebe said that the girl had died and nothing else. 

Thalia slowed slightly when she reached a road, hoping that the mist would cover up her sudden appearance and her speedy getaway, not that it would really matter, mortals would sum her appearance up to some large bird or the sun messing with them. She sprinted across the busy road, which was still at a slow pace. Then she disappeared into the dense forest once again, continuing her journey to Camp Jupiter.

. . .

Percy finally made it outside around 9:30, exhausted from a little child climbing on him like a jungle gym. He was heading towards the big house to steal some coffee from Chiron, it was a short walk but it seemed to take forever with the black-haired four-year-old sitting on his shoulder and riding him like a The Pegasus. Percy indulged slightly occasionally jumping and neighing which earned him squeals in response. When the familiar light blue house came into view, he broke into a trot, whether for Silena’s amusement or in excitement for coffee, nobody would ever know.  Silana started to giggle, grabbing her father’s head covering his eyes with her hands, leaving her father momentarily blind. Percy had pried one of the hands-off his eyes before he ran into the porch, he stopped abruptly nearly bucking Silena off her perch, which led to more giggling. Percy couldn’t help but smile at the adorable laugh coming from his daughter. He carefully walked up the wooden steps making sure to not drop Silena. He maneuvered her around his body so he was carrying her in front of him, the little girl refused to let go. Percy walked through the house, waving politely to Chiron who was listening to his gods-awful music and rolled his eyes at Mr. D, who was passed out on the couch, despite his room being 5 feet away. He walked to the rec room which now held a coffee maker, after numerous complaints from the cabin counselors. He grabbed two mugs, busying himself with making the coffee, while Silena distracted herself with pulling his hair. 

“Daddy, I wan’ some!” She yelled loudly in his ear.

“No this is a grown-up drink, honey.”

“DADDY-”

Percy walked out of the big house with an already hyperactive toddler drinking coffee from a purple sippy cup. In his hand, he held two mugs, one was white with a picture of a pony wearing a party hat, the other was black with a picture of Leo brandishing a shirt that said Super-Sized Mcsizzle. 

When they finally made it to the Poseidon cabin, Percy couldn’t decide whether or not giving his daughter coffee was a good idea. It only delayed the melt-down, Percy could only hope that the melt-down would happen after he was gone. Annabeth raised an eyebrow when Silena burst into the cabin, screaming  _ under the sea _ at the top of her lungs and running through the bunks. Percy handed the coffee to his wife, pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before turning to calm Silena down. 

“Come on honey, we don’t want to wake up Lucas do we?” Percy asked, finally getting his arms around the girl and turning her to face him.

The four-year-old pouted and shook her head no, even mumbling out a quiet ‘sowwy’. He let go of the toddler who continued her antics, though now in a whisper. Percy turned to his wife who was slipping on a light jacket and lacing up her winter boots.

“Oh, we’re going already?” Percy questioned, surprised at the quickness. 

“You’re the one who insisted on leaving as soon as possible,” Annabeth bit back, she stuck her tongue out at him and took a sip of her coffee. Percy winced, guess she is still mad about last night. 

“Come on Silena, we’re gonna go see Aunty Calypso,” Annabeth called, making her way out into the cold. Silena quieted, big wide green eyes digging into Percy’s soul before shrugging and running after her mom. Percy sighed, dragging a hand down his face, then glanced over at his son, for a second. Lucas was sleeping like a brick, snoring lightly and drool drying on his face. Percy shook his head before racing off after the rest of his family, knowing his son would sleep the entire day if he could. 

Percy caught up with his family when they were nearing the arena, Silena was holding onto Annabeth’s hand while jumping through the snow. Annabeth had gotten rid of her coffee mug at one point, Percy had forgotten his but refused to go back. The Jackson-Chase’s silently walked through the camp and into the forest, the only sound being the occasional holler from a camper or the snap of a twig from Silena jumping. Percy’s eyes nervously darted around the forest, watching for any monster that might jump out, his hand was shoved in his pocket, fingers wrapped around Riptide. 

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally made it to Bunker 9, where Calypso could be heard yelling at Leo, a few seconds later Calypso rushed out of the bunker followed by a pillar of black smoke and a dirty Leo. The two immediately started arguing, both using very exaggerated hand gestures. Annabeth cleared her throat. 

“Annabeth, Silena, Percy, what a pleasant surprise!” Calypso smiled, rushing forwards and scoping the young Jackson-Chase into her arms, peppering her face in kisses. 

“How come I don’t get a kiss, sunshine?” Leo joked, coming forwards to greet his friends.

“Because you blew up our home,” Calypso glared before turning to the family, “Leo here, decided he needed to make a coffee machine,” Calypso explained, a scowl on her features as she bounced the elated toddler on her hip. Calypso was already dressed and had a very puffy winter jacket and some jeans on, along with black boots. 

“There is a coffee machine in the rec room,” Percy hooked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing in the general direction of Camp.

“You expect me to walk that far for coffee?” Leo deadpanned, an exasperated expression on his face. 

“It would have taken you 5 minutes!” Calypso argued, rolling her eyes at Annabeth and mouthing ‘men’ to the daughter of Athena, who nodded in agreement, “Anyway, what brings you to Bunker 9?”

“Percy and I have to go to Camp Jupiter, we got a call from them last night, something weird is happening and the Iris Message cut out before we could finish the conversation, we’re just going to check it out,” Annabeth explained, trying to reassure the couple that it was nothing. 

“I’m assuming you need me to watch over the little one?” Calypso asked, wincing as the girl in question started playing with her hair, pulling a piece a little too hard.

“If that’s okay?”

“Of course, you know how much I adore young children,” Calypso assured, she gently pulled the toddler’s sticky fingers out of her hair.

“Just make sure Maria and Lucas stay out of trouble, too,” Percy added, when the two teens were together, there was always a lot of ruckus. 

“Oh, Nico and Will are going too?”

“Yeah, Nico is shadow traveling us there,” Percy cut in, rubbing the back of his neck when Annabeth glared at him. Calypso nodded absentmindedly, smiling, and cooing at Silena while she tickled her stomach. 

“You want to come back to camp with us? Bunker 9 seems like it needs to air out,” Annabeth asked after a moment of silence, it broke Calypso out of her momentary trance, she smiled and nodded again. They make their way back through the forest, Silena swinging between Calypso and Annabeth while Percy watched for monsters, and Leo tinkered with something in his hands. 

When they returned to the cabins area, Annabeth reluctantly pulled away from her daughter, a frown on her face. “We’re gonna head out now, you guys can stay in the Poseidon cabin for a night if you’d like,” Percy said. 

“Thanks man, I’ll watch out for Lucas, sunshine here will take care of Silena,” Leo said, breaking his concentration to thank his friend, he shoved the metal pieces into his belt and saluted the two demigods, best not give them a hug when he was so dirty.

“Alright, Silena, Mommy and Daddy are gonna go on a trip for a day or two,” Percy explained to their young daughter, squatting so he could look into her sea-green eyes. Silena noded, lower lip trembling slightly when she launched herself at her two parents pulling them both in for a hug. 

“Bye-Bye Mommy and Daddy,” Silena said before running across the field towards the arts and crafts shack, pulling Calypso with her, stumbling through the snow. Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, before they started laughing quietly. 

“She got over that quick.”

“It’s like she didn’t even care.”

They both laughed, Percy wiped away imaginary tears, smiling brightly at his wife, “We should probably get going, best not leave Reyna waiting.”

“You’re probably right,” Annabeth nodded, sobering up and following Percy who was marching towards the Hades cabin. They made their way up the small porch stomping the heavy snow off their boots and alerting Nico of their presence. Annabeth raised her fist to knock when Nico opened the door, dark circles underneath his eyes and wearing a cute knitted hat that had little skulls embedded in it. 

“Jeez, what took you two so long?” Nico grumbled in the form of a greeting, obviously tired, Annabeth wondered how late he’d stayed up. They made their way to the archery range where Will is helping some of the younger campers with their form, adjusting their legs and hands, “Will, let’s go!”

Will finished helping a young girl, adjusting her stance with his foot and changing her grip. Will told her to let go of the arrow, watching in satisfaction as it hit a few inches from the bullseye. The blonde gave the young girl a high-five before he went over to join the older campers, “You guys are finally awake!”

“Why does everybody keep saying that, we woke up at a normal time!” Percy asked an exaggerated pout on his face. He hasn't seen many people awake yet.

“On any other day, you would’ve missed breakfast,” Will countered.

“There isn’t any breakfast today, only an early lunch.”

“Exactly,” Nico confirmed, “Ready?”

Nico held his arms up patiently as each of the heroes grabbed onto an arm with two hands, Percy taking the longest, always weary of shadow traveling. Nico led the group to the shadow of a tree before leaping into it, enveloping the entire group in darkness. Percy screwed his eyes shut immediately in fear of them being ripped from his head for how fast they were going. 

…

_ Maria was standing in a green grassy field with stones littering the ground in no known order. The grass was high, tickling her thighs and making it almost impossible to see the rough grey stones. The clearing went on for miles, before turning into a forest, the only light was a dull silver crescent at the highest point in the sky. Two figures were stalking through the grass seemingly hunting something or somebody. They both had dark hair, one slightly darker than the other. The two girls seemed to be talking to each other, only it came out a gibberish to Maria, something unrecognizable. Maria tried to speak, hoping to ask who they were and why they had been in her dreams the entire night, only the words got stuck in her throat, coming out as a weak exhale. Maria moved her foot with immense effort, placing it a few inches ahead of her other one. She slowly made her way to the conversing strangers, sweating with the effort. She brought her hand up slowly, intending on touching the girl with the black hair. Her hand met the impossibly cold shoulder of the girl, who jumped in surprise. They spun around revealing-. _

Maria grunted when a heavyweight landed on her, forcing the air out of her lungs and leaving her gasping for breath. Her eyes flew open, ready to tell the offender off, just in time to recognize the familiar sea-green eyes occupying the body laying on top of her. Maria silenced her angry thought in favor of pushing the annoying girl off of her chest. It shocked Maria that the young girl could annoy her so much despite only having been alive for 4 years, she must have been taking lessons from Lucas. 

“Maria! Come play wit’ me!” Silena laughed, climbing back on top of the disgruntled teens, clinging to her when Maria tried to push her off again. 

“No, go ask your dad,” Maria groaned, steading the four-year-old when she sat up, not wanting to hurt the young, too bad. 

“Daddy went away,” Silena said as if that explained everything, quirking her head as if the question was dumb.

“Then go bother your Mom,” Silena compromised, loosening the girl's grip on her shirt. 

“Mommy went wit’ Daddy,” Silena laughed, pushing her face against Maria's chest and clinging to her tighter. Calypso took that moment to come into the cabin, red-faced and out of breath. 

“Sorry Maria, she just slipped away when I wasn’t looking,” Calypso apologized, attempting to detach the toddler from Maria. 

“No, stay wit’ Maria.”

“It’s fine, where are her parents?” Maria assured Calypso, she wrapped her arms around the toddler to prevent a tantrum. Maria winced slightly, finally realizing the young girl had her wet boots and jacket on, effectively soaking Maria’s blankets. 

“Oh, Nico hasn’t told you?” Calypso asked, confusion written on her face.

Maria shook her head, although she had her suspicions.

“Your Dads, Percy and Annabeth all went to Camp Jupiter, something about an Iris Message,” Calypso shrugged, leaning awkwardly against the bedpost and giving her deja vu. Maria froze, how long had she been sleeping?

“Cool, here,” Maria said, she threw the soaked covers aside and handed Silena to a surprised Calypso. Silena even had time to complain about the transition because Silena was already flying through the room, slipping jeans over her shorts and sweatshirt upon sweatshirt over her head. Calypso and Silena silently watched as Maria hoped around with one boot on and then the other. Maria grabbed some drachmae and secretly slipped a couple hundred in her back pocket. 

Before Calypso could even say anything and Silena could throw her tantrum, Maria was out the door, laces untied and sword being buckled around her waist. Maria ran through the yard, down the line of cabins and towards Poseidon’s cabin. She completely bypassed the steps in one jump, knocking off a bit of the snow on her boots before slamming the door to the cabin open, and yelled, “Get up!”

Lucas jumped and let out a girly yelp as he rushed to cover his bare chest with his blanket, “Hades Maria!”

“Our parents are already gone, meaning we have to go to, up and at ‘em!” Maria stated, throwing the blanket off of the boy, rolling her eyes and repressing her smile when he hurriedly wiped the drool off his face. Lucas hurriedly pulled jeans on over his boxers and a t-shirt on. Lucas wasn’t sure where they were going or why it was so urgent, Maria’s words had gone through one ear and out the other. He only knew that he should put a coat on and bundle himself up, too tired to question Maria. 

Maria watched as her friend rushed around the cabin, dressing with a winter coat, scarf, hat, and gloves, even stopping to put a gray hat on Maria. Then gave her boots a pointed look, which Maria quickly tied, cheeks tinted pink with embarrassment. Maria was slightly concerned that he had yet to make the connection between their conversation last night and now or even why he hadn’t asked where they were going. However, she chose not to question it, taking Lucas’s sudden agreeableness in stride. Lucas finally stopped rushing around when he had his bow on his back and sword at his hip, he approached Maria with a question in his eyes.

Maria didn’t let him ask it, opting to instead grab his arm and screw her eyes shut, thinking of Camp Jupiter when the darkness grabbed hold. 

The two teenagers emerged in front of a bright blue stoplight, scaring a bunch of pedestrians. Maria pushed through the crowd, rolling her eyes when she heard a person call them delinquents. Maria pulled Lucas from the suffocating cluster surrounding the oddly colored pole. Lucas quickly ripped his arm out of Maria’s grasp and rushed to a nearby bush, retching into the shrub. Maria followed him awkwardly, patting her friends back as he finished his business, she glared at everybody who gasped in disgust. 

“Gods Maria, you couldn’t have warned me,” Lucas sneered, wiping his mouth with his jacket, while he glared at his friend. 

“Then you wouldn’t have grabbed onto me.”

“You grabbed me!”

“Tomato Tamato,” Maria shrugged, finally noticing what was in front of them, and what a peculiar sight it was. In front of them was a white and tan building that looked like a cone, only it was missing its top. Coming out of the side was a sculpture of a dinosaur, some of the bricks had been placed to look like it was ripped out of the building when the dinosaur came out. In the exhibit, there were two more dinosaurs, both of which looked like they were about to run away. Surrounding the exhibit was a bunch of snow and tourists, posing with the sculpted dinosaurs. 

“Where are we?” Lucas asked as he eyed a group of kids throwing snow and ice chunks at the sculptures. 

“Obviously not California.”

“No? really?” Lucas said sarcastically, he spun on his heel, looking for a recognizable landmark. He found a gas station on the other side of the street, not very helpful, but he’ll take what they can get.

“Come on, let’s go confuse a poor worker,” Lucas grumbled, stalking back towards the tourists now crossing the street. 

“Jeez, okay Mr. Grumpy Pants,” Maria hurried after Lucas, passing the patterns painted on the tar. The two teens walked into the gas station, Maria pulled her hat off the second the heated air blasted away the cold, “Can we at least get some food, Shadow Traveling takes a lot out of a girl.”

Lucas didn’t respond, just walked through the isles idly, Maria took that as a yes and quickly headed for the coffee machine, intending to load up on caffeine. She grabbed a black coffee for herself and a hot-chocolate for Lucas. She waited, and waited and waited for the coffee to finish. Lucas found her just before his hot chocolate finished, handing her a sandwich and apple. They make their way to the register, breakfast - or is it lunch? - in hand. 

“Please tell me you have money,” Lucas asked while they waited in line, really not wanting to steal the food, which he was not above doing. Hunger makes you do crazy things. 

“Of course, you take me for a thief,” Maria assured, she lightly bumped his shoulder with hers, deciding to grovel for forgiveness. They moved up a bit, one more person to go. Maria sat there awkwardly, biting her lip and wondering what to say.

“Hello, we were wondering where we are, we got a bit lost,” Lucas said before Maria could think of anything, plastering a grin on his face as he talked to the women. 

“Oh, of course, I’m surprised you don’t know, you’re in Indianapolis,” the clerk explained, pointing a finger at the dinosaur exhibit, “That’s the Children's Museum.”

“Really, great! Thank you,” Lucas said, placing their stuff on the counter for her scan.

“Anything else today?”

“No, that’ll be all,” Maria said, handing the girl a twenty and getting back a few cents. Maria gathered up her stuff, coffee in hand and the sandwiches and fruit in a plastic bag.

“Have a good day!” The clerk called after them.

“How long before we try again?” Lucas asked, leading them back over to a bench outside of the gas station.

“We can head out after we eat,” Maria told him as they sat on the cold, wet, metal bench, they quickly got their food out of the bag and started to eat. Lucas sat with a very straight back, bow and quiver preventing him from leaning against the bench.

“Put your hat back on,” Lucas reminded between bites, ever the protective friend. Maria obediently did as told before she resumed eating the bland sandwich.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve asked you to come with, not force you,” Maria finally said after a while, shoving the final bite into her mouth, she looked guiltily at her friend.

“It’s fine, I would’ve come anyway,” Lucas waved her off, slipping his apple into his pocket for later, Maria did the same.

“Why didn’t you say that!”

“Had to have you grovel just a bit,” Lucas laughed, pinching the air between his fingers. Maria glared and punched his shoulder lightly, Lucas laughed harder, rubbing the spot a bit.

“Jerk,” Maria mumbled, she grabbed his arm and squeezed her eyes shut thinking of a place her dad had always wanted to go. She could faintly hear Lucas squeak when they went back into the shadows.

This time they appeared under a tree, nobody was around and the parking lot was nearly empty.

“Where are we now,” Lucas groaned from beside her, eyes still screwed shut.

“Iowa.”

“How d’you know.”

“My dad’s wanted to come here for years now,” Maria explained using the tree to help her stand up. Now she was remembering why she didn’t shadow travel this much. Her legs were wobbly and her head was spinning. She leaned heavily on the tree while Lucas dusted the snow off his butt.

“Ok, but where in Iowa?” Lucas asked again, giving Maria his arm for her to grab hold of.

“The Squirrel Cage Jail, not for actual squirrels,” Maria elaborated as they went to sit 

down on one of the nearby benches. To the left of them was an old brick building and a metal horse that so happened to be blue.

“Still don’t know where that is.”

“Council Bluffs, I think.”

“You think?”

“Shuddup, we’re in Iowa!”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Just let me sleep,” Maria groaned already curled up against Lucas and yawning loudly. 

“How long?”

“I don’t know, thirty minutes?” Maria mumbled, asleep before Lucas could say anything else. Lucas sighed and looked around, spotting a police officer eyeing them warily. He glared at him with the wolf glare, which his father had seen fit to teach him. Lucas put an arm around Maria protectively and put his head against the wood behind him. Lucas sat there for a while before realizing that he didn’t know the time and didn’t have a watch. 

After what Lucas thought was thirty minutes he gently shook the younger girl awake, “Come on, It’s been half an hour.”

“Don’t wanna,” Maria sleepily said, pushing away the hand. Lucas looked at her incredulously, debating whether or not to push her off. Lucas pushed her off and into a puddle, deciding she deserved it after shadow traveling without warning twice. 

Maria flailed as she got wet, “I hate you,” she growled, standing up and looking very much like a wet cat. 

“Let’s go, I would prefer to get to Camp Jupiter before our parents send out a search party.”

“They don’t even know we’re gone!”

“Calypso has no doubt iris messaged them!”

“The iris messages aren’t working properly, we don’t know if she got through.”

“Let’s just go,” Lucas said, grabbing Maria and screwing his eyes shut. After a minute of nothing happening, he opened one eye open, Maria took the opportunity to shadow travel.

Lucas and Maria screamed as they fell down a tree. Lucas hit countless branches that only lessened the impact slightly while Maria grabbed a hold of one and held on for dear life. Maira watched as Lucas fell ten feet, hitting branches on the way down and fell to the ground in a lump. 

“You alive down there?” Maria yelled, swinging over to the trunk and shimmying down. The lump groaned and she collapsed next to it. She was getting wet and muddy again, but couldn’t care less, she was too tired. 

“Do you know where we are now?” Lucas asked, turning on his side so he could look at his fellow demigod. 

“Nope.”

“Are you gonna try to figure out?”

“Nope.”

Lucas groaned, standing up slowly, his head was spinning and he was fairly certain that multiple of his bones were fractured. He crawled over to the lake, which was half frozen. He clumsy made it over the ice and dipped his hand in the water. His pain immediately lessened and he almost cried out in relief. He opened his eyes again and found himself staring into the eyes of a water nymph.

“Hey, can you tell me where we are?” He asked, the nymph gurgled in return. Oh right, he can’t understand them. Lucas sighed and stood up shakily thanking the Nymph before making his way back over to Maria, who was happily sleeping in the mud. Lucas smiled at his friend before sitting against the tree that had nearly killed him. He adjusted his scabbard and bow on his back so he could sit comfortably. Lucas dug around in his pocket, pulling out the squashed apple before throwing it into the forest.

He finally took a good look at what was around them, they were obviously in the mountains, if the rocks were anything to go by and they were surrounded by a dense forest and a lake. It was beautiful in the winter, he wondered what it would be like in the summer. He made a mental note to have Maria bring him back sometime. 

Maria woke up by herself this time, “Why’d you let me fall asleep in the mud?”

Lucas shrugged with an amused look in his eyes as he stood back up and stretched, grinning in satisfaction when his back cracked. Maria attempted to wipe the grime off of her clothes, muttering about the Rocky Mountains and that Thalia was a liar. 

“You ready?”

“Oh, you ask now?”

“I won’t if you’re a jerk about it.”

“Sure let’s go.”

Maria grabbed Lucas’s shoulder and concentrated.

They ended up in a dark and musty cave, which reminded Maria of the underworld. They stumbled through the area, breathing in the damp air and tripping on the uneven rocks.

“Of course you brought us to a cave,” Lucas complained, walking blindly towards the mouth where they could see a bit of light reflecting off the snow.

“It’s not my fault, I’m just trying to get us to Camp,” Maria whined, refusing to acknowledge how tired she was, despite having fallen multiple times in a matter of minutes.

“Yes it is,” Lucas said, catching her before she could trip again. He threw Maria’s arm over his shoulder and half-carried her out of the cave and into the sunlight. 

“How?” Maria asked, practically collapsing onto the floor and into the snow, again. 

“Somehow your brain is leading us to these places!” Lucas exclaimed, staring down at the still sleepy demigod. 

“I don’t control my brain!” Maria argued, looking up and glaring. Lucas went silent for a minute. “It’s not my fault I’ve been-” trailing off mid-sentence and passing out.

“Oh come on!” Lucas yelled at nobody in particular. He bent down and pulled the girl’s hat back over her head, not wanting her to lose an ear. It was too far into the day for Lucas to take a nap with his friend and he had too much energy to just sit there and wait. He slipped his bow off his shoulder and started to rapidly fire arrows at a snowbank a few feet away. Lucas didn’t want to lose his arrows, he just needed a way to get rid of his frustrations without hurting anything or anybody. 

Lucas reached his hand back in order to find another arrow but came up empty, he went over to the pile and dug through. He picked up his arrows and knocked the excess snow off before starting the process again. Lucas went through the routine a few times before he finally calmed down enough to sit on a rock and stare at the canyon in front of him. Light snow covered the mountains in front of him, underneath there were slabs of orange rocks. 

Lucas must have dozed off or something because it seemed like minutes later Maria was stirring awake. He helped the girl up, brushing the snow off of his exhausted friend.

“You ready to keep going?” Lucas asked, holding his friend steady when she swayed.

“The sooner we get to camp, the sooner I can sleep,” Maria said, eyes unfocused as she looked at Lucas. It looked like there were two of them. She blinked a few times and the second Lucas was gone, Maria wondered where he went.

“Okay, let’s go, I think we’re pretty close now,” Lucas assured, screwing his eyes shut, the darkness swallowed them whole. 

Maria and Lucas are spat out in front of some really shiny toes. Lucas distinctly remembered a story about shiny toes and metal angels but is too disoriented to think too hard about the connections.

“Hoover Dam,” Maria answered before Lucas could ask, recognizing the place from the stories told around the campfire. Lucas shot her a questioning glance but didn't question it. 

“C’mon, we’re getting some food, let’s go to the dam snack bar,” Maria grumbled, walking unsteadily toward an elevator. 

“You have an apple in your pocket,” Lucas reminded, laughing as he thought about the dam snack bar. Maria sent him a look before she pulled him into the elevator that took them to the snack bar. They walked through the chattering crowd and towards the snacks, Lucas didn’t buy anything but Maria grabbed a yogurt parfait, fries and a hamburger. She paid and quickly sat down, shoveling the food into her mouth. A labradoodle ran up to Maria, barking at her loudly, the dog growled threateningly at the demigods. 

“How’d you even get here?” Maria asked, watching the dog warily.

“Just give it some food,” Lucas suggested. Maria threw a french fry at it, the dog let the food hit its face, as its growling grew louder, turning more and more animalistic. The dog starts changing, getting bigger and bigger, to the point where it was pushing the tables out of the way. The mortals around the teens screamed and called for security, they ran for the exits. 

“That’s a hellhound,” Maria stated.

“Yeah, Maria, it is a hellhound, are you gonna help me fight it?” Lucas agreed sarcastically, he drew his sword leaped over the table. He took a defensive position between the hellhound and Maria.

“I guess,” Maria sighed, standing up and drawing her sword, fumbling with it. She was too tired to deal with this. Lucas charged at the monster, which jumped quickly out of the way, Lucas ended up running straight into the table behind it. Maria rolled out of the way when the hellhound lunged at her, its teeth snagged her sweatshirt. Maria let out a loud scream as the oversized dog through her into a nearby table, ripping her sweatshirt in the process.

The hellhound started stalking towards its victim, snarling viciously. 

“Hey, stupid, over here!” Lucas yelled, waving his sword in the air. The hellhound turned towards him and lunged. Lucas let out a yelp as it ran straight into him. Lucas brought his sword down and cut the hellhound in the snout, and then he flew straight into the wall.

Maria's eyes widened when she saw her friend fly into the wall, fracturing the concrete and coughing up blood. The sight of blood made Maria’s vision turn red, she ran at the distracted animal that was whining over it’s cut. She let out a loud war cry and ran straight into the beast sword first. It turned to dust around her, coating her in the golden dust. She sheathed her sword and ran towards Lucas, her food and exhaustion were forgotten in favor of an adrenaline rush. 

“Lucas, are you okay.” Maria needlessly asked, her friend was definitely not okay. He was wiping blood from his mouth and using the wall to support himself.

“I’ll be fine, nothing Nectar can’t fix,” Lucas attempted to smile, it looked more like a grimace.

“Alright, the last jump, I promise,” Maria said, supporting her friend carefully as she screwed her eyes shut and prayed to every god she could think of. She thought of Camp Jupiter and Berkley Hills as they slipped into the growing darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zoe_Nightshade_Rules! - Sorry for taking so long to update, chapter 1 was sort of a pilot, also my partner, BillCipherGirl666, was being lazy and wouldn't write for the past week. 
> 
> Thanks for the Kudos! Constructive Criticism is encouraged and appreciated! - Zoe and Bill


	3. Chapter 3

Nico was spat out of the shadows and into busy traffic, the hands attached to his arms quickly released him. Nico’s clothes whipped around him as cars going 60 miles per hour flew past him. Nico distinctly heard his companion screaming and the drivers honking. Nico wondered what would happen if a driver hit him, would they stop and call for help, would they risk their car getting hit by the speeding vehicles? Or would they keep going and hope nobody reported them?   
Nico spun against the asphalt, he scanned the street, looking for his friends. The cars passing by momentarily take away his sight, making it that much harder. He finds them on the opposite side of the street, their eyes shining with worry. Nico was disoriented, the exhaust mixing with the air and getting trapped under the round cavern, he tried to focus on the cars but it gave him a headache trying to track them. There was a sheen of sweat on his pale forehead as he tried to focus. The cars fell away leaving only a street blocking him from getting to his friends, his brain trying to protect him from the sudden sensory overload. 

He ran for his friends, only making it a few steps before a horn blew loudly. A car was in front of him, and behind that car was a line of them, all rushed towards him at top speeds. Nico froze, the headlights glaring at him from a few feet away. The loud honk of the horn was constant and soon blurred into the background. Time slowed down and Nico stayed in front of the car, like a deer caught in headlights. 

“NICO!” Will yelled from the safety of the sidewalk, it was enough to break Nico from his trance-like state. Nico continued to run for the sidewalk, towards his husband and his friends. The car rushing towards him slammed on the breaks, squealing against the asphalt. Nico jumped the rest of the way, his foot hit the side of the car and twisted at an uncomfortable angle. He rolled to the safety of the sidewalk and stood up, wincing as he put a bit of pressure on his ankle. 

The sound of horns blaring returned with a vengeance, coupled with cars crashing into each other. Nico threw his hands over his ears, the sounds of a car crash echoing around them.

“RUN!” Percy was the first to react, he yelled at the top of his lungs and started sprinting towards the closest exit, the mouth of the tunnel. Nobody else complained, running after the black-haired demigod, leaving the collision behind them. They stopped when the sunlight hit them, in front of them was a line of cars, the drivers coming out to take pictures, behind them was a pile of cars, there were at least 10 cars in the crash. Nico could only hope that the driver wasn't hurt, too bad.

Annabeth pointed to the other side of the road, where Jason and Reyna were staring at the crash in shock. Whatever she said was lost to the car alarms, but Nico took the hint and ran, weaving through the haphazardly stopped cars. Skid marks littered the ground and people were yelling at each other, throwing accusations while others called the police. 

Reyna ushered the group inside, Jason following close behind. Reyna said something to Piper and Frank, but Nico was pretty sure his ears were bleeding and didn’t ask. Frank and Piper stayed back, weapons out and ready. 

“What happened?” Reyna yelled the second the door closed behind them, muffling the sounds of police sirens and cars. She stared angrily at her greek counterparts, tapping her foot impatiently and stopping a few feet in the tunnel. Both of the Roman Praetors looked dead on their feet, dark circles under their eyes, and their skin was paper white like they’d seen a ghost. Nico limped to the front, prepared to explain. 

“Nico decided it would be a good idea to shadow travel across the country,” Will explained, glaring at his husband.

“Please that was nothing,” Nico waved off, leaning to the left to put less pressure on his right foot. 

“You almost got run over!”

“You caused a huge car crash!” Annabeth and Will both said at the same time, their words mixing together into something nearly unintelligible. 

“Keyword: Almost,” Nico sent a look of apology towards the two Romans.

“One problem at a time,” Reyna cut in before anybody else could yell at Nico, “Let’s get the problem with the two girls settled before we talk about the car crash you caused,” Reyna sent a pointed look at Nico, it was clearly not over. Reyna spun on her foot and lead the group down the tunnel, Jason taking up the rear. 

“Speaking of problems, have you gotten them to talk yet?” Percy asked, standing next to Reyna as he talked with the leader. Nico limped behind, last in line. 

“Here, I think I’ve got some Unicorn Draught,” Jason whispered, noticing Nico lagging behind, he fumbled with a pouch at his waist.

“Thanks,” Nico mumbled, quickly swallowing the medicine. He grimaced at the taste but forced it down.

“No problem.” 

Nico quickly caught up to the rest of the group, having missed Reyna’s answer, but from the frown on Percy’s face, he could tell that it wasn’t good. The group transitioned from the electricity cables and light bulbs to mosaic tiles and torches. Telling the group that they were nearing Camp Jupiter. 

“Where are they staying?” Percy asked, his eyes flickered between the different torches, focusing on anything but Reyna.

“We gave them a tent upon request and they are currently situated just outside of The Field of Mars,” Reyna explained after a moment of silence, carefully choosing her words. The group made it out of the tunnel and into the bright sunlight. Ahead of the group was a frozen over Little Timbre and then beyond that was the barracks where Nico could make out the ant-like people rushing around. 

The group walked through the snow, shivering at the sudden gust of wind. Nico would rather be in the musty tunnel for the rest of the day rather than outside in the open. They walked in silence to one of the bridges, the only sound being the wind howling and the soft crunch of snow under their boots. Reyna walked over the creaky bridge, the rest of the group following close behind, the bridge groaned under the sudden weight but held. 

When they made it to the snow-covered Field of Mars, they could see some of the Unicorns digging around in the snow, looking for grass. Hidden around the field were countless guards, who all appeared to be female. They all had their hands on their swords and walked around stiffly. 

“Why are there only female guards?” Will asked. Hazel spotted them and started running towards the group. 

“They injured the men,” Jason said queasily, slowing down slightly eyeing the ground as if it might bite him. Nico’s eyes widened, maybe it was the hunters, but why were their only two of them?

“They came at midnight?” Nico confirmed, the entire group had slowed down, even Reyna seemed wary. Nico didn’t like it, there was a weird presence surrounding the area, it seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place it. 

“Yes, while we were counting down,” Reyna assured, then a tent came into view. There was a fire crackling beside it, melting the snow in the general area. They were too far away to properly see the two girls, only their silhouettes. As they got closer, Nico recognized the silver jackets that often accompanied the hunters, although these ones he hadn’t seen in a long time. The dark hair was the next thing and Nico put two and two together. He was certain that if he got closer, the girls would look like young teens and have darkly colored eyes. Nico halted, unable to bring himself any closer, eyes transfixed on the younger of the two girls.

Percy was the first to break from the stupor that had fallen over the group. He ran forward, a big smile on his face, his arms were thrown wide. He scoped a surprised Biance into his arms, effectively blocking Bianca from Nico’s view. Nico’s eyes shifted to the other girl, Zoё. She had her bow drawn and was pointing it at Percy, but she hesitated, a flash of confusion and recognition flashed across her face. Nico remained frozen as Annabeth walked towards her husband, hands up in surrender.

“Zoё?” She asked, Percy hadn’t let go of Nico’s sister, who was flailing slightly, her legs kicking as he lifted her off the ground. 

“Annabeth,” Zoё said after a tense second.

Annabeth nodded.

“Thee had grown,” Zoё said like it explained everything. Percy placed Bianca back down on the snow-covered ground, smiling like an idiot before turning to Zoё, his arms still opened.

Annabeth smiled, “It’s been a while, I never got to really thank you.”

“Indeed it has,” Zoё nodded, satisfied with the conversation before ducking out of the way. Dodging Percy’s hug, she maneuvered around the man, pressing a dagger against his back. “I may like you, but that doesn’t mean I want you to touch me,” Zoё said before stepping away. Nico barely registered the guards tensing around them. 

“Fair eno-”

“Nico?” Bianca interrupted, her voice was small and hesitant, Nico’s heart ached for his sister. Nico’s eyes flickered back to his sister, he took her in, she was shorter than he remembered. In the corner of his vision, he could see Percy tense, and the smile was wiped off his face.

“You’re alive?” came Nico’s response in the form of a quiet whisper, his eyes were glazed over with tears that he refused to allow fall. It took the boy a second to realize that it came from him. He eyed his sister suspiciously, wanting to believe that it was her, wanting it to be her, but his brain refused to accept it. Must be self-preservation, he wasn’t sure if he would make it through another heart-break like that. 

“Of course I’m alive!” Bianca cried out. Reyna waved off the approaching guards. 

“How?” Nico’s voice cracked and he fell to his knees, unable to stand for much longer, silent tears streamed down his face. Bianca rushed to her brother, hugging him like she used to, his head resting just above her sternum and he clung to her tightly around the waist. His body shook as he sobbed into her shirt, his tears sliding off the material. 

“I don’t know,” Bianca murmured, burying her face into his hair, trying to hold back her tears for the sake of her brother. Will walked forward, wanting to comfort his husband. Though held back when Zoё aimed at him, her eyes told him to go to the crying siblings, just to see what happens. He backed away slowly, Zoё eye’s taunted him the entire time.

“You were gone, I came to get you and you were gone,” Nico sobbed, hands curled into the fabric of the coat, knee’s digging into the snow. He felt like a little kid again, relying so heavily upon his older sister.

“I know Neeks, I know,” Bianca reassured, unsure about what he was talking about, her only goal was to calm her little brother. Although he wasn’t so little anymore. The siblings sat there, in Bianca’s case, stood, for a while. Nico cried against her shirt while Bianca muttered reassurances into his hair.

“You’re so small,” Nico laughed hoarsely, his words seemed to echo through the silent fields where everybody held their breaths. He sniffled and pulled his face away from his sister’s shirt, looking up at the girl with red, swollen eyes.

“And you’re so big,” Bianca laughed, it sounded empty and hollow, “You’ve grown so much.”

“Yeah? You’ve been gone for a while,” Nico wiped the tears off his face and snot out and under his nose with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. 

“So Percy said,” Bianca pulled her brother up from his knees, he stood until he was towering over his sister. Nico laughed dryly in response. 

“I hate to put a pause on this heartbreaking scene, but can somebody please explain what is happening?” Reyna asked, arms crossed.

“We’ll catch up later,” Bianca assured when a panicked look crossed Nico’s face.

Percy cleared his throat, “Right, this is Zoё and Bianca,” Percy introduced, gesturing to each hunter respectively.

“Zoё and Bianca were Hunters of Artemis, they died on a quest a while back,” Annabeth added after Percy didn’t elaborate. Will was finally putting two and two together and figuring out who the two hunters were.

“If they died, why are they here, clearly alive?” Reyna raised an eyebrow, Greeks weren’t that good at explaining things in her experience. 

Percy shrugged, the goofy smile having found its place on his face again. 

“Right well, why don’t we ask them, they seem much more talkative with you around,” Reyna suggested, she sat down on one of the logs near the fire. She looked at her comrades expectantly.

“You want me to go over there? Nuh-uh, remember, they shoot boys,” Jason rushed out, staying put. He stood there while everybody else took a seat next to the fire, hand outstretched in an attempt to warm themselves. Zoё looked a bit attacked when everybody started sitting down next to her before she accepted it and took a seat near the fire as well. Glaring at Jason and Will while playing with her hunting knife. Jason was thoroughly intimidated. Jason grabbed Will before he could get any bright ideas.

“I agree with the blonde roman, he should not come over here,” Zoё agreed, settling down between Annabeth and Bianca. Nico sat next to Bianca, refusing to let the girl out of his sight.

“He’s one of the leaders of Camp Jupiter,” Percy tried, “He needs to be here.”

“Thee can relay the information.”

“That’s tedious,” Percy complained. Zoё looked at the two blondes waiting a few feet away.

“And what of the other one?”

“That’s Will, don’t worry he’s married,” Percy explained, not wanting to unintentionally out his friend. Zoё looked to Bianca who shrugged, not really caring, she doesn’t mind men as much as Zoё does. Bianca was more focused on rubbing Nico’s back comfortingly.

“Fine,” Zoё gritted out, she glared at the two blondes while they take a seat, twirling the knife between her fingers. Jason sat next to Reyna and Will next to Nico. Zoё glared at Will again, unsure about his intentions towards the child of hades. Zoё wasn’t heartless, she understood that Nico had missed Bianca and decided to let it slide.

“My name's Jason by the way, not ‘the blonde roman’,” Jason introduced himself, holding his hand out to the hunter. Zoё glared at it like it personally offended her. Jason drew in back after a second of it hanging in the air. 

“How long have we been dead?” Bianca asked after a moment of awkward silence.

“Twenty-two years,” Nico responded bitterly, and everybody winced, Zoё seemed unaffected. Nico thought about the last twenty years and wondered if anything would be different if Bianca would’ve never died. 

“Who took up my position?” Zoё asked. She reached behind her and grabbed a stick, moving the logs in the fire around. The flames danced and sparks flew. 

“Thalia,” Percy, Jason, and Annabeth all said at once.

“Oh really?” Zoё seemed surprised, a stark contrast against her previous anger. A small smile even graced her lips, “That’s a pleasant surprise.”

“I’m assuming the rumors of Kronos rising are true then?’ Zoё continued her interrogation, Bianca had a grim look on her face as she thought about the 22 years she lost, following a similar thought as Nico. 

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Percy confirmed.

“There was a wave of heroes arriving in Elysium, word spread quickly, what about the giants and Gaea?”

“Hold on, aren’t we supposed to be questioning you?” Reyna interrupted before Percy could say anything else. Percy nodded anyway, Nico couldn’t resist rolling his eyes at Reyna, she always needed to be the leader. 

“Ask away,” Zoё challenged.

“How did you get here?”

“I don’t know?”

Reyna quirked an eyebrow, thinking she was lying.

“I don’t know,” Zoё repeated, more forcefully.

“Where were you before you got here?”

“The field Elysium.”

“Where in the field of Elysium?”

“On the shore, looking at the isle of the blest,” Zoё answered truthfully.

“Why were you there?”

“To avoid hero’s like thee.”

“That’s all?”

“What would I gain from lying about that?” Zoё glared, moving the logs more forcefully, causing more sparks to fly up. 

“What you’re saying helps no one,” Reyna said irritatedly. The two had been leaning forward as the argument progressed.

“I’m no liar, Praetor Reyna,” Zoё snarled, she dropped the stick in favor of using her dagger. Her eyes turning cold and proud, Percy shivered, they reminded him of Atlas’s eyes.

“Whoa, you guys, let-” Percy started, standing up and pushing the two back gently, the two leaders continued to glare at one another. 

“Guess who finally got here!” Thalia sang as she sprinted towards the group, interrupting Percy in the process, Frank trailed after the fast hunter. 

“Thalia!” Percy smiled, happy for the distraction.

“Hey Kelp Head, miss me?” Thalia asked, slowing down as she reached the group, oblivious to the hunters staring at her in shock.

“We beat you,” Percy said instead, teasing the hunter.

“I ran here, all you had to do was grab Nico,” Thalia rolled her eyes, “Now, who's been causing all the ruckus?” Thalia’s eyes flicked over the assembled group, landing on Bianca and then Zoё. She froze, “Well, this is certainly unexpected.”

“Hey Thalia,” Bianca waved, standing up to hug the shocked lieutenant, “I heard you became the Lieutenant, congratulations.” 

“Thanks,” Thalia choked out while she hugged Bianca back, gaze focused on an amused Zoё. Bianca let go after a second and returned to her spot next to Nico, who had cheered up at the sight of Thalia, silently laughing into his hand.

“Do you want your position back?” Thalia asked after a second of silence, not knowing what else to say. Reyna glared holes into the side of Zoё’s head, silently daring her to take away Thalia’s leadership position. 

“No, I believe thee fills my old role nicely,” Zoё said, she laughed at Thalia’s shocked expression, “Now we can be sisters.”

Thalia nodded dumbly, too confused to do much else, “I’m gonna go call Artemis,” Thalia explained awkwardly as she started to back up, pointing behind her. The punk-rock-girl quickly ran off, digging a drachma out of her pocket. 

“Now that that’s settled, if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to be doing,” Zoё muttered as she sent one last glare towards Reyna. Nobody questioned her as she disappeared behind the tent flap despite knowing she didn’t have anything to do. 

“Ok, Well, I think we should go discuss what to do with this new information,” Percy cleared his throat uncomfortably. The others rushed to agree, standing up while they wiped dirt and snow from their butts. Soon only Will, Nico, and Bianca remained. An uncomfortable silence filled the air while the siblings searched for the right question to ask first. 

“What happened after...” Bianca trailing off, her arm wrapped around her brother’s shoulder who had calmed down a bit. “We don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” her voice was soft and  cautious. She glanced towards Will wary of the stranger sitting next to her brother. 

“You okay Neeks?” Will asked, shifting slightly in an attempt to get closer to his husband without Bianca glaring at him and trying to ignore the fear that the other hunter would pop out of the tent and send an arrow through his heart. 

“I- I’m- I’m fine...” Nico’s sentence came out broken and shaky. He was sitting perfectly still while staring down the dead grass that had begun to peer through the melting snow surrounding the fire. 

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Bianca said, cocking her head slightly to the side, “But who are you?”

“Will Solace, Child of Apollo, Camp Healer, and Pediatrician,” Will introduced, leaning over his husband and holding a hand out for Bianca to shake. Bianca reluctantly shook the blonde’s hand. 

“And my husband,” Nico timidly added, his voice muffled behind his palm, barely heard above the crackling of the fire. Nico shook like a leaf blowing in the wind, mind racing through all of the possible reactions, all bad. 

“Well, out of being a demigod, meeting a goddess, becoming immortal, dying a few days later then coming back to life 20 years later,” Bianca paused, gathering her thoughts, “You being homosexual is the least surprising thing I’ve heard in a long time,” She took a deep breath and gave her brother a small smile. With that Will cautiously reached out to take Nico’s hand, rubbing his thumb against the rough skin of the back of Nico’s hand. 

Nico let out a huge sigh of relief, tension seeping out of his body and leaving him slouched and relaxed, he leaned back into Bianca’s arm and squeezed Will’s hand lightly.

“Anything else I should know about?” Bianca asked. 

“Well… we have a daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I think our normal schedule for posting is on Wednesdays, we wanted to do Fridays but there were a lot of roadblocks. How'd you like this chapter? I only skimmed over it for spelling errors, so sorry if I didn't catch something. I was very excited about Zoe being there if you haven't figured out by my name, she's my favorite character, but I would love to know what you guys think. Oh, yea and to TheGhostKing44 if you're still reading this, sorry I couldn't respond to your comment, I couldn't figure out how to without spoiling. Anyway, I hope everybody's staying safe!  
> -Zoe


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